Spotlight on Film Maker and Actor Saara Lamberg.

David Black interviews Saara Lamberg for The Australian Short Film Network

Anyone that is active in the Melbourne and Adelaide indie film scene today would be hard pressed not to have heard of Saara Lamberg. She’s certainly been quite prolific in acting and making films. I first met her on the set of Cult Girls where she had a starring role as Dalia. I don’t remember speaking to her much on that set as I was just an extra, playing a cult guard.

What I do remember well was the opening night of one of Saara’s feature films … Innuendo! I wrote an article on it for The Movie Blog, so no need to go into that right now. https://www.themovieblog.com/2017/11/innuendo-bad-twin-twice-value/

Today, I’m interviewing Saara and hope to uncover some of the secrets to her success.

DB – Hi Saara. Thanks for making the time to chat to me today. I decided to do some research on you and visited your Wikipedia page, and it mentions that although you were born in Finland and are making movies in Australia, you actually studied in England! Can you tell us about your early years and your motivations?

SL - I always loved acting and performed plays with cousins on the courtyard to pretty much no one I am sure. I was 7 when mum took me to her theatre groups rehearsals. I loved watching all the grown ups work passionately in what they loved doing. I must have been annoyingly full of energy, like a little puppy, as the director decided to put me in the play. It was the Tempest by Shakespeare and he created a role for me specifically, an assistant to Ariel. It was Shakespeare and very grown up language so I didn't understand what any of it meant but remembered everyone's lines so became a useful prompter also. It was very hands on independent theatre where we had to do everything, build props, carry seats in and out for every performance, it was very physical and I enthusiastically took part in everything. I learned early on to not expect glamour in this industry, mainly just hard work and wonderful team spirit of doing things together and just chipping in with what ever one was able to do. Since I lost my mother to early onset dementia when I was a teenager, these childhood memories are just priceless, I am so glad she launched me into my passion before she got ill. Then at school, I remember being quite active in performing in various things, I played for example Santa Clause when none of the boys wanted to do it. I was ten when I directed a comedy play at school in which I also played a prostitute, some parents thought it was a little too edgy but good on our teacher for allowing us kids explore all sorts of themes.

In Finland, I really wanted to study acting but only 0.01% applicants got accepted to the course and I didn't make the cut. The media course was hard to get into also, about 5% success rate, which I managed to pull off. So I started off studying radio, television and film in Helsinki and then went to England as an exchange student for one year. The course at the Dartington College of Arts was performance based and since I enjoyed the studying there a lot more than the course in Helsinki, I asked if I could stay on. The university was happy to keep me so I ended up graduating in UK as opposed to Finland. But this combination now meant that I had basic knowledge of everything behind the scenes as well as my performance degree, which of course helps me enormously to this day although it was frustrating at the time.

DB – You really are very interesting. You have been very busy too and have 36 acting credits on your IMDB. We won’t get time to cover all of that today, so I hope you don’t mind me selecting just a few. You have 14 acting credits from 2005 – 2011, starting with “Silent Waves” and finishing with “Boronia Backpackers”. Can you select one or two that stood out to you to tell us about?

SL – Silent Waves was made in Lithuania as a part of a European Media Workshop, it was one of the first experiences where I got to gather with international youth that all loved filmmaking. It was directed by Johanna Wartio and various other crew members were females, I remember it didn't seem strange to me at all and I am a little surprised that Australia still seems to lag behind in gender equality in film and tv as the arts usually are progressive in these kinds of things. Anyway, I can only lead by example I suppose although it would be hell of a lot easier to make films with some kind of funding than not.

Boronia Backpackers was the first indie feature I was involved in in Australia, I played a Dutch backpacker.

Being involved as an actor in all of these films was essential in learning better directorial skills when observing other directors at work.

DB – That really is quite amazing! Rushing right ahead at break neck speed, from 2012 up until Innuendo in 2017, you have 10 more credits! People can already read about Innuendo in the link I supplied, so can you cherry pick a couple of your favourites there for us?

SL – I am very fortunate to get cast in all sorts of films and roles and within those years I played for example a lesbian cannibal, an alcoholic mother and a deranged tooth fairy. I am ambitious and I like working, and with that hunger, I started producing my own work, whilst attending all sorts of industry events to learn more and more about the craft. I started writing for others to direct, eventually directing my own films too. Since acting had been the driving force, I have never given it up and still continue to act, either in films I direct or other people's films. I ended up directing five shorts, which I think is essential before launching onto feature work.

DB – In your last lot on the list, I can see “The Westermack Effect.” That’s a fairly recent feature, isn’t it? Please tell us all about that one.

SL - Westermarck Effect is my second feature that was completed and set to release at Cannes Cinephiles 2020, but pandemic hit, and it has been rescheduled for 2022. Westermarck Effect tells a story of a mother that re-meets the son she gave up for an adoption 20 years ago and the two fall romantically in love. It's going to be a challenging tale to watch for some, much like Innuendo was. I am interested in psychology and unusual stories that don't otherwise get told. I became aware of the phenomena of people falling in love with their biological family members when I read an article about it and when I started researching the topic, it seemed universal and surprisingly common and that's when I realised it was worth a film. I wasn't interested in exploring the topic in a particularly sexual way, but about the complex feelings that occur for the mother knowing she is getting involved with such a taboo lover.

DB – Now Saara, I know that you are exceptionally busy, so you must have a lot of projects currently happening and in the planning. Spill the beans! Tell us what’s happening.

SL – I really have to remind myself that quite a lot is actually happening because it feels like it's not because Westermarck Effect release is postponed and the world seems a little stagnant with the pandemic. And I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, had surgeries, chemotherapy and I was also in radiotherapy during the first Melbourne lockdown, which didn't exactly help.

But yes, I have managed to direct two shorts, Hush Darling and Hey Doll! and one feature COMA in the last 12 months. I also have two other films currently in post production: Conversations with Spithead and The Lies We Tell Ourselves. Whilst my first two features Innuendo and Westermarck Effect both had a screenplay and were shot in fairly conventional ways, with these new ones I have taken a step towards improvisation and a simpler crew. All three films had a concept and ideas only, no script and were improvised during the shoots. Conversations with Spithead is a 40 minute film about a man living in isolation with his cat. And no, it was not filmed during the pandemic, but two years before any of us knew anything about the pandemic. COMA is a feature about relatives and friends visiting a coma patient and was shot in ten days during the Filmonik Kabaret 2021. The Lies We Tell Ourselves is a 90 minute feature I shot over three years when I was showcasing my first feature Innuendo to audiences at film festivals in France, Italy, England, Germany, New Caledonia and Australia. It's a mockumentary about a film director traveling to film festivals and making her next film. It's the first feature I am editing myself and to be honest I have hated the editing process, but it has given me something to do during the pandemic isolations. All three long form improvised films are very very different in tone and subject matter and are in various different stages of post production. Westermarck Effect is ready and waiting for the world to open so it can premiere in Cannes 2022. In the meantime, my first feature Innuendo is readily available for watching on various different platforms.

DB – Wow, thanks for taking the time to chat to me today. I’m sure the readers will have a blast. Can you give us some links so that everyone can follow your work?

SL – Innuendo